I opened the paper with a nameless dread.

But whatever my vague fears, they fell far short of the occasion; and when I saw those yells from without crystallised into scare headlines and flaming capitals I turned for a moment sick and dizzy with fear.
The paragraph was only a short one, and I read it through in less than a minute: "THE MISSING FINGER "DRAMATIC DISCOVERY AT WOODFORD.
"The mystery that has surrounded the remains of a mutilated human body, portions of which have been found in various places in Kent and Essex, has received a partial and very sinister solution.

The police have, all along, suspected that these remains were those of a Mr.John Bellingham who disappeared under circumstances of some suspicion about two years ago.

There is now no doubt upon the subject, for the finger which was missing from the hand that was found at Sidcup has been discovered at the bottom of a disused well _together with a ring_, which has been identified as one habitually worn by Mr.John Bellingham.
"The house in the garden of which the well is situated was the property of the murdered man, and was occupied at the time of the disappearance by his brother, Mr.Godfrey Bellingham.

But the latter left it very soon after, and it has been empty ever since.